Daily Recap: 7/30

Morris no-hits Grasshoppers for 6, bats come alive for Captains

LHP Ryan Morris spun 6 spectacular no-hit innings and the Lake County Captains had a rare power surge with 3HRs cruising to a 6-1 win over the Greensboro Grasshoppers at Classic Park.

Morris (8-4), coming off back-to-back starts in which he'd allowed a combined 11ER off 11 hits in 7 innings, retired the first 6 hitters he faced before Grasshoppers DH Torre Langley reached first base after striking out on a wild pitch leading off the 3rd inning. A HBP of C Tyler Belcher and a sac bunt put runners on 2nd & 3rd and only one out, but Morris would come back to strike out the next two hitters he faced and end the only threat he would encounter all night. Morris would allow a 1-out walk in the 4th, which he erased on a DP grounder, before retiring the final 7 batters he faced. Morris' final line would end up at 6IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 8K before leaving the game due to pitch count.

RHP Gary Campfield came on in relief in the 7th inning and promptly lost both the no-hit bid and the shutout, allowing a 1-out HR to CF Mike Stanton.

The Captains would get on the board in the first inning on a 2-out HR by Roman Pena (11). They would add another in the 3rd as Richard Martinez (3) lead off the inning with a HR. Matthew Brown (7) would HR to start the 4th and Martinez would add an RBI single with 1-out in the inning to put the Captains up 4-0. They would cap their scoring in the 6th as Karexon Sanchez came through with a 2-out, 2-run bases loaded single.


Snyder, bats power Bisons past Bulls

Brad Snyder finished a single short of the cycle driving in 4 runs as the Buffalo Bisons held on in the face of some shaky 9th inning defense to beat the Durham Bulls 8-5 on Wednesday night.

The Herd would get on the board in the first inning on a 2-out solo HR by 1B Michael Aubrey (4). After a Ben Zobrist HR in the bottom of the inning tied the game against starter Jeff Weaver (2-2), the Bisons would again sneak ahead as Snyder homered leading off the top of the 2nd. The back-and-forth continued in the bottom half as Reid Brignac tied it right back up with a HR to right field.

Snyder ignited the next Bisons go-ahead rally in the 4th leading off with a double against Bulls starter Wade Davis, before being driven home on a 1-out single by Trevor Crowe. The lead would be short lived though as Weaver allowed the first 4 hitters to reach in the bottom of the 6th to put the Bulls ahead 4-3 after 6 and ending Weavers night with 6IP, 7H, 4R/ER, 1BB, 5K.

Snyder would again be the hero in the 7th igniting another Bisons rally to make a winner of Weaver. After a walk to Jorge Velandia to start the inning, Michael Aubrey would move him to 3rd on a single before getting thrown out trying to stretch it into a double. Todd Linden would step up though and rip an RBI single to right field off Bulls reliever Juan Salas to tie the game at 4. Back-to-back singles by Chris Gimenez and Morgan Ensberg against Dale Thayer loaded the bases with one out, Jason Cooper struck out to set the stage for Snyder. Snyder drove a 1-1 pitch from Thayer off the wall in CF for a go-ahead, 2-out, 3-run triple. The Bisons would add on 1 more in the 8th on an RBI single by Aubrey scoring Crowe staking the Bisons to an 8-4 lead heading into the 9th where they would find themselves in some trouble.

Bisons reliever Randy Newsom struck out Reid Brignac to start the inning, before back-to-back fielding errors by SS Walter Diaz allowed the next two men to reach safely. Newsom then allowed a single to Jon Weber to load the bases, before walking Ben Zobrist to force in a run and put the tying run on base. Newsom would bounce back to strike out Justin Ruggiano before Rich Rundles relieved to face the left-handed Dan Johnson, striking him out to record his 3rd save of the year.

Snyder (3-for-5, 2B, 3B, HR, 4RBI), Aubrey (3-for-5, HR, 2RBI) and Crowe (2-for-6, SB, RBI) all starred on offense for the Bisons.

RHP Brenden Donnelly continued his rehab from TJ surgery, working a scoreless 7th inning with a pair of Ks. RHP John Meloan made his 2nd appearance for the Herd with a scoreless 8th, striking out 2 and working around back-to-back singles to open the frame.


Akron Bullpen struggles, Aeros lose in 10 to Seawolves

Scott Lewis worked 6 brilliant innings, but the Erie Seawolves rallied against the Akron bullpen sending the Aeros to a 4-3 defeat in 10 innings.

Lewis, making his 11th start of the year, allowed only a first inning unearned which scored with 2-outs after a Wes Hodges error with 1-out in the inning. Lewis ended the night with 6IP, 5H, 1R, 0R, 1BB, 8K and has now allowed only 2 earned runs over last last 5 starts (0.58ERA) spanning 31 innings of work, but is just 2-0 over that span.

The Aeros got on the board in the 2nd inning as Jose Constanza reached on a 2-out RBI bunt single to score Wyatt Toregas from 3rd base. Akron would then take a 2-1 in the bottom of the 3rd as Bronson Sardinha led off the inning with his 5th HR of the year.

That lead would stand up until the 8th inning, when the Seawolves would rally for 2 runs off Aeros reliever JD Martin. Martin, after working a scoreless 7th inning, would allow 2 runs to give the Seawolves a 3-2 lead, Martin allowed 3 hits in the inning before giving way to LHP Erik Stiller who gave up the go-ahead hit to Seawolves Santo De Leon.

The Aeros would bounce straight back in the bottom half as Wes Hodges made up for his 1st inning error by launching his 13th HR of the year to lead off the frame and tie the game at 3-3. The Aeros weren't able to muster anything of note offensively from then on.

The big blow came in the top of the 10th inning as Erie C Dusty Ryan launched a 1-out HR off Stiller to send the Aeros to their 8th loss in their last 12 games and cut their lead in the Southern Division of the Eastern League to 2.5 games.

K-Tribe routed 16-4 by the Pelicans

Shawn Nottingham was roughed up for 10 runs, 9 earned, in just first 3.1 innings of work and 2B Cristo Arnal pitched the 9th inning allowing 6 runs off 7 hits (3HR) as the Kinston Indians fell 16-4 at the hands of the Mrytle Beach Pelicans.

Nottingham came into the game carrying a healthy 2.94ERA in 7 starts since being sent down to join the Indians rotation from the AA Aeros bullpen, but he could never get into a groove as he allowed 1 run in the first, 6 runs in the 2nd and 3 more in the 4th inning.

Mike Finocchi (1.2IP), Neil Wagner (2IP) and Vinnie Pestano (1IP) worked 4.2 strong innings before Arnal came on to pitch the 9th and take one for the team.

The Pelicans offense managed a massive 22 hits for the night. #9 hitter 2B Robert Marcial finished the night 0-for-3, but every other Pelicans hitter had at least 2 hits going a combined 22-for-45 (.489).

SS Carlos Rivero finished the night 3-for-3 for an Indians team that began ringing the changes on offense in the 6th inning.

In other games...

- Mahoning Valley beat State College 7-6. P.J. Zocchi (5IP, 7H, 2ER, 6K) with a strong start. 2008 4th round pick David Roberts (1-0) blew a 6-3 Scrappers lead in the 8th allowing a 3-run HR to Spikes 2B Andy Vasquez. C Zach Booker drove in the winning run with a 9th inning sac fly. SS Lonnie Chisenhall (1-for-4, 2RBI) hit his 4th pro HR.

- GCL Indians beat GCL Braves 7-2. 2007 15th rounder Chris Jones (2-2) with 5 brilliant innings allowing only one hit with four walks and four strikeouts. Athlete first, Baseball player second, Bo Greenwell (that's not an insult!) an impressive 4-for-4 with 3 doubles. 19 year old Greenwell, drafted in the 6th round in 2007, is an athlete still learning to play the game.... that learning process seems to be going well as Greenwell is hitting .500 (12-for-24), 5 2B, 2 3B, HR over his last 6 games.

- DSL Indians routed 13-1 by White Sox. 18-year old RHP Francisco Valera falls to 5-3, 3.96ERA allowing 4 runs in 3.2 innings of work.

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